Elon J. Farnsworth

Elon John Farnsworth (30 July 1837-3 July 1863) was a Union Army Brigadier-General during the American Civil War.

Biography
Elon John Farnsworth was born in Green Oak, Michigan in 1837, the nephew of John F. Farnsworth. His family moved to Illinois in 1854, and he served in the US Army during the Utah War and as a buffalo hunter and scout in Colorado before the American Civil War broke out. He became a lieutenant in the 8th Illinois Cavalry Regiment at the start of the war in 1861 and served as an aide-de-camp to Alfred Pleasanton at the Battle of Chancellorsville and the Battle of Bryan Station. On 29 June 1863, he was promoted to Brigadier-General and sent to command a brigade in Judson Kilpatrick's division at the Battle of Gettysburg. After the failure of Pickett's Charge on 3 July 1863, Kilpatrick ordered Farnsworth to launch a suicidal cavalry charge against Confederate troops to the south of Little Round Top; Farnsworth initially balked, but acquiesced after Kirkpatrick accused him of cowardice. He was shot five times in the chest and killed, and the charge was repelled with heavy losses.